An authoritative, enthusiastic, eminently readable slice of pop-culture history honoring a medium that sadly seems close to...
The golden age of radio as told by grizzled deejays, canny programmers and one passionate listener.
Over the past decade-plus, the advent of the iPod, podcasts and satellite radio has marginalized AM radio to the point that few bother with amplitude modulation unless they’re in their car and need some traffic and weather on “the 8s.” Unless listeners can choose exactly what it is they’re listening to, they simply won’t. Obviously, that wasn’t always the case; beginning in the early 1950s and climaxing sometime in the late ’80s, AM radio spread music and messages across the airwaves far more effectively than pre-cable network television. All these advancements and shifts within (and without) the medium beg the simple question, Was radio better then or now? At the very least, according to Fisher, in the beginning, pop radio was far more personal, colorful and affecting. A veteran Washington Post politics/culture columnist, Fisher presents a version of radio’s cultural development via a series of mini-biographies of AM heavyweights, like iconoclastic humorist and jazz lover Jean Shepard, maverick programmer Todd Storz, the effervescent Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow and oh-so-macho mouthpiece Tom Leykis, among others. The FM side of the dial is touched on only briefly, most memorably in the informative discussion about the roots of National Public Radio. As this book is at heart a celebration, Fisher focuses primarily on the positive, only briefly recounting such black marks as the oft-reported Alan Freed payola scandal and Steve Dahl’s infamous 1977 “Disco Demolition Night” in Chicago. Fisher (After the Wall, 1995) elicits engaging, often hilarious stories from his interview subjects, particularly the tale of Cousin Brucie’s 1965 encounter with the Beatles. Some might question the author’s choice of featured personalities—a chapter about Dick Biondi, for example, would have been welcome—but this is a Fisher-eye view of radio, and that’s more than acceptable.
An authoritative, enthusiastic, eminently readable slice of pop-culture history honoring a medium that sadly seems close to extinction.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2007
ISBN: 0-375-50907-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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